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Monday, 2 June 2014

some are more equal than others

This is the email I sent to our SEN Caseworker, her boss, the Director of Learning and Achievement Operations and cc'd to our local councillor and MP on Friday afternoon, in reponse to the SEN's email I mentioned before the weekend.

B has just started phoning down a list of Taxi companies with wheelchair accessible vehicles in the local area. The first one he spoke to hadn't been contacted by the LEA and has gone away to see whether they can help.

Why are we having to do this ourselves?

Dear <SEN Caseworker>

I do appreciate the difficulties that County has been experiencing
putting transport in place for N. However, it is simply not
acceptable to say that a child who needs a wheelchair as part of
her day to day mobilisation is not able to have that wheelchair
transported to school.

We have not simply 'ordered an electric wheelchair' for N as a
nice, cheery, optional toy for her to take to school with her. She
has been referred to the Exeter Mobility Service for an electric
chair because as she grows, she is losing the ability to walk. My
child is losing her ability to walk. To move around. To get in and
out of chairs and cars and her bed and the bath. Already she
cannot walk independently. And already walking with her Kaye
Walker exhausts her. Being in a powered chair saves her energy
that she can then use to do things like hold a pencil. Feed
herself. Swallow. And ultimately, breathe. Her day to day kit is,
this half term, also going to include a suction pump in case she
cannot clear her own airways.

I know that mainstream schooling is the County's preferred method
of education for children like N. It is certainly our
preferred method - I cannot emphasise enough how much N's
speech, language and general confidence has come on in the short
time she has been at <school>. Mainstream is the right
place for her, because she is an intelligent and sociable child
with no behavioural difficulties, despite her day to day
challenges.

Her powered chair is going to arrive in twelve to eighteen weeks
time and by then, I expect County to be able to meet their legal
obligation to take her to school, with the appropriate equipment
to enable her to get the most out of her day.

Until then, we will go with option one on your list - N to
travel to and from school in a LEA provided car-seat, without an
escort. The driver will have to be prepared to lift her in and out
of the car seat because she is not always able to do this herself
if she is tired; her current weight is just under 13kg. The driver
will also have to transport both her small electric wheelchair and
her manual wheelchair in to school on a Monday, bring them back on
Tuesday afternoon and then take them in again on a Thursday
morning and bring them back on a Friday afternoon. Her Kaye Walker
also needs to go with her, as does the suction pump. We will do
this because it is important for her to have the sense of
independence that transport to school will give her; as well as
being one stress that we as a family do not need to deal with.

I am extremely angry that I having to put so much of my time and
my energy in to chasing SCC to meet their obligation to my
daughter when I should be spending that time actually being a mum.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts regarding the SEN team
declining to transport a disabled child's main form of
mobilisation to school.

They are backing us in to a corner about this and I am running out of options. The Somerset Parent Partnership have suggested that we try to find someone to Advocate for us and are putting some feelers out on our behalf. It was they who suggested phoning round a list of accessible taxi companies and seeing what we came up with. The lady I spoke to, who I had cc'd a copy of the email, told me that she had showed it to her managers and colleagues and the consensus is that the County Council are in danger of breaching the Equality Act by not providing N with appropriate transport.